A House Democrat from Dallas has raised more than $6 million for his U.S. Senate campaign against Republican Ted Cruz.
Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) has banked $6.2 million and transferred $2.4 million over from his House campaign account, leaving him with $8.6 million on hand, The Texas Tribune reported.
Allred announced his bid to unseat Cruz on May 3 in a video posted on social media, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The congressman’s campaign said he raised more than $2 million in the first 36 hours.
“Since day one this campaign has been about bringing people together to beat Ted Cruz and give this state the leadership it deserves,” said Paige Hutchinson, Allred’s campaign manager, in a statement to the Tribune. “We are amazed at the outpouring of support, and more confident than ever that we will have the resources to win next November and send Ted Cruz packing.”
In an interview with Fox News, Allred criticized Cruz, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and reelected in 2018.
“I think we know as Texans we can’t afford to have another term of Ted Cruz representing us in the Senate. That’s what it is about. It’s not about the presidential race or past races in the Senate, it’s about me vs. Ted Cruz,” Allred told Fox News.
“We know we can’t count on him, he went on vacation during the freeze and he’s one of the people who tried to lead the insurrection on January 6th, so I think that’s not the Texas that I know,” Allred claimed.
A May poll from the University of Texas at Tyler showed Cruz maintained a single-digit lead over Allred, with 42% of respondents saying they would vote for Cruz and 37% saying they would vote for his challenger.
“Allred wants men to compete in women’s sports, isn’t serious about addressing the crisis at the border, wants to take away law-abiding Texans’ guns, and is soft on punishing murderers,” a Cruz spokesperson claimed in a statement back in May, according to the Tribune. “Thankfully, the Lone Star State has a tireless champion in Sen. Ted Cruz.”